Cecilia Nyametse, a janitor, has been squatting in a security office on a construction site in Cantonments, a plush suburb of Ghana’s capital, Accra, for nine months because, like thousands of other people, the rising cost of living means she can’t afford the sky-high rents in the city.
This situation is not limited to those on low incomes. Isaac Ansah-Addo, a doctor with three children and a wife, said he moved from Accra to Kasoa – an area on the outskirts of the city with a high crime rate – three years ago because the rent was getting too high.
Ansah-Addo, 45, was paying two years’ rent up front, to the tune of $3,360 (GHC39,950), for a three-bedroom house in Spintex, a suburb of Accra. The GP, who earns $500 (GHS6000) a month, said moving out of the city was a difficult decision but has been cost effective.
